Exhibition - Rothschilds in Caricature

8: Feeding time

‘Lord de Rothschild’s Egyptian soothing-syrup. Feeding time’. Nathaniel ('Natty'), 1st Lord Rothschild, recently raised to the peerage feeds golden syrup to the Nile crocodiles, while other animals – the Russian bear, the Austrian eagle, the British lion – look on. A joint Rothschild loan of over £9 million to the Egyptian government in 1885 (the ‘golden syrup’) helped calm a sometimes turbulent country and reinforced Britain’s role in Egypt, without openly antagonising rival powers.